Britain’s biggest pay-television operator insisted yesterday that it had not been distracted by recent takeover interest from News Corporation as it announced a sharp rise in high-end subscribers.

British Sky Broadcasting reported 96,000 new customers during the three months to September 30, taking the total to 9,956,000, just shy of the ten million target the company set six years ago.

More significantly, the broadcaster said that average revenue per user, a key industry standard, rose from £469 a year ago to £514, reflecting that it had signed a record number of customers to take combined rental services.